USAC Midget/Silver Crown

The series heads to Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway for the 4-Crown Nationals on Sept. 25, with Kingsburg, California’s Kody Swanson (pictured) riding second, just 36 points behind the leader. Third is USAC Triple Crown champion Jerry Coons, just six points behind Swanson, while Shane Hmiel sits fourth, another six markers behind Coons.

Those racers, and several others, utilize a 355 cubic-inch, naturally-aspirated, pushrod Toyota V8 engine in USAC Silver Crown competition.

The picturesque Ohio countryside will greet the series at the daunting, high-banked, half-mile dirt track at Eldora. After a brief respite, the series then travels to the semi-banked dirt oval at the Terre Haute (Indiana) Action Track on October 9, with the season finale coming one week later at the challenging half-mile paved oval at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway.

For Swanson, having the championship within reach in just his second season in Silver Crown racing is a notable achievement. Still, he admits that settling for second isn’t on his agenda at this point. He and his Team 6R mates will approach Eldora as a golden opportunity to take a step toward winning the title.

Swanson has predominately used pavement races to advance his career thus far, but he has shone on the dirt tracks this season. A few weeks ago, Swanson captured his first series victory at DuQuoin, Ill.

“It’s been a learning curve, adjusting to the dirt races,” he admits. “Especially the short tracks. But we’ve had some good runs, and I’m looking forward to Eldora and Terre Haute. I’m really looking forward to getting back to Toledo, and my goal there will be to qualify well and get a good starting spot.

“I still feel like the underdog, because in this series everybody in the top 10 is tough. This is the first chance I’ve had to race for the title, and it would mean a lot to win it, especially for my Team 6R guys. They’ve raced in Silver Crown for a long time and winning the championship would be a very big deal.”

Coons looks wistfully at the DuQuoin weekend and wonders how things could have been different for him and the RW Motorsports team. The Tucson, Ariz. driver led the first 51 laps before fading to finish 15th after making a tire change during a mid-race caution, changing the complexion of the event and ultimately the point race.

“DuQuoin was just a huge disappointment for us, and we looked at it as a mistake with tire choice,” he says. “Had we held on and won, we would have come away 10 points in the lead, and now we’re in third place.

“We just have to make sure we don’t make another mistake. But the big thing is to just run well, at all three races. We’d like to get a win by the end of the year, and that’s our focus: to win races. I’ve always believed that if you win races, the points will take care of themselves.”

Hmiel, a teammate with Coons on the RW Motorsports roster, has shown well in Silver Crown competition in 2010, his first full year with the series. The Pleasant Garden, N.C. driver has been impressive, winning the prestigious Hoosier Hundred at the historic Indiana State Fairgrounds in May.

“Even though it’s gone OK, we’ve kind of struggled this year,” Hmiel admits. “My view is that we’ve got to win both dirt races and finish in the top five at Toledo. We’re a little ways back in points, so we’ve got to win to put any points on them.

“I’ve only been to Eldora once before, where we ran second last year. Our guys are doing really well in the shop and they’ve been making sure the car is ready. Our year has been playing catch-up, because we finished dead last in the first race, and that put us in a big hole. But to come back to where we are, that’s better than we thought we might be.”

All three drivers will join a number of Toyota-powered racers to be part of a busy weekend at Eldora. In addition to the Silver Crown series, entrants from the USAC National sprint car and midget car series will also compete at the popular 4-Crown event.

Six down, and three to go: for Swanson, Coons and Hmiel, the stretch run is at hand. Just three events stand between them and the title most coveted in USAC racing: 2010 Silver Crown champion.

USAC Silver Crown Point Standings
2 Kody Swanson 260
3 Jerry Coons Jr. 254
4 Shane Hmiel 248
7 Brian Tyler 230

Remaining events
September 25 Rossburg, OH Eldora Speedway ½-mile dirt
October 9 Terre Haute, IN Terre Haute Action Track ½-mile dirt
October 16 Toledo, OH Toledo Speedway ½-mile pavement